


In Another Life

by oneshotsbygabby



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adoptive Parent Tony Stark, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asgardian tech, F/M, Light Angst, Reader-Insert, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 10:53:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17445530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneshotsbygabby/pseuds/oneshotsbygabby
Summary: Because of a piece of Asgardian tech you were helping Tony work on, you land in 1940's Brooklyn. It's there that you meet a stranger with beautiful storm-cloud blue eyes...





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this imagine: [ Imagine you accidentally get sent back in time to 1940’s Brooklyn, thanks to something you were helping Tony work on, and you meet Bucky, who you have never met before, and he helps you get out, then when Tony finally comes to get you and bring you back home, you meet Bucky a few months later and he remembers you](https://thranduilsperkybutt.tumblr.com/post/151231183988/gif-source-bucky-tony-imagine-you).
> 
> I know this is also tagged Tony Stark/Reader, but Tony is just a parental figure. He raised the reader.

"Ugh," you groaned as you hit the pavement. "Tony," you muttered, "this is why we don't play with things that don't belong to us."

When Tony had come to you and told you that he figured out time travel, due to some Asgardian tech that had fallen onto Earth, you told him to leave it alone. You had told him that he shouldn't mess with things that weren't his.

But did he listen? Hell no, he didn't. Tony Stark didn't often listen when people said things like that because he was a genius and didn't think there was much he couldn't figure out.

And now here you were, standing in the middle of an alleyway in...where the hell were you, anyway? Some big city, that much was glaringly obvious, but other than that, you had no idea. As you left the alleyway and went onto the sidewalk, you noticed that the place had a vintage-type look to it, as it was a picture frozen in time.

It was very picturesque.

You noticed a man stop in the opening of the alley, and he was watching you. First thing was first though; you had to figure out where you were.

"Excuse me," you say to the man, and he was still watching you carefully, "can you tell me what year it is? And maybe where we are?"

You notice the look he's giving you, but then he said, "Why, it's 1940, doll. And this is Brooklyn. Um...are you okay?"

Oh, God. 1940. You weren't sure you could give yourself any time to panic -- at least, not right now. The panic would have to come later.

"I, uh, I think so." Oh, God, how were you going to explain this to someone in this time? You were thanking any deity that was listening that you loved history and studied it enough to actually start explaining this to someone.

You noticed the man's eyes kept shifting to the alleyway behind you, as if he was trying to understand what caused your state. When he didn't see any villain back there, he focused his attention back on you.

"My name's Bucky," he said. "Bucky Barnes. Is there somewhere you need to be?"

You shook your head. Sighing, you said, "No, nowhere to be."

"Look, I was on my way to a diner downtown to meet my friend. You could join me, if you wanted."

It felt like your mind was racing. You weren't sure what to do. How long were you going to be stuck here, anyway? And how would you survive? Things were so different in 1940's Brooklyn, compared to 2018.

You didn't really have any idea on how to function on your own. Sure, you were a legal adult and knew how to take care of yourself, but when your parents died when you were a kid, Tony took you in. You had been raised like a Stark, with Tony treating you like a daughter, so he'd helped you through life. What were you going to do?

The panic was starting to set in. You took a few deep breaths, trying to calm yourself down, but that's when Bucky noticed your distress.

"You okay, sugar?" he asked you. "You look a little distraught."

You nod. "I'll be fine," you say, putting on a smile. "I just get caught up in my own head sometimes."

He nods. Looking at you, he offers you his arm, "So, you want to go with me?"

You nod. "Yeah, sure." Taking his arm, you smile at him and the two of you start walking.

"So, I don't know what to call you," he said conversationally. "I gave you my name. What's yours?"

"Oh," you said, almost surprised at the small talk, but then again, this _was_ the '40s. "Y/N."

"It's nice to meet you, Y/N," he answers. "Where you from?"

You take a deep breath while walking. You were trying to figure out how to explain this to a guy you don't even know, especially in this time period. You're not sure what you're going to say to this man.

"Manhattan," you say honestly. That's where Tony found you, after all.

"What are you doing all the way out here, then, doll?" he asks you. "We're at least an hour away from Manhattan."

"I don't know how to explain it, honestly," you say, taking another breath. "It's so confusing."

"Well, do you have somewhere to go? Do you have family or something around?"

You shake your head. "No. My parents are dead."

You see his features soften, "I'm sorry." He licks his lips and then says, "Recently?"

You shake your head, "No. My parents died when I was just a kid. I've been on my own ever since." You weren't sure what to say to this man, about your roots or how you grew up. You couldn't tell him the truth, could you? You know that Howard Stark is alive in this time, but _Tony_ was your father. Tony wasn't even thought of in this time.

You reach the diner where you meet a small, blond man, and it almost escapes your notice, but then you realize -- that was Steve Rogers. Captain America, before he was Captain America.

Steve and Tony had been through some serious issues, with Howard idolizing Steve when Tony was growing up, and Tony hated the man before he'd ever met him. But then the Avengers were formed, and you were just a teenager when that happened, but you and Steve grew close quickly. You didn't want to date him, though; no, you weren't interested in Steve Rogers romantically. The two of you were good friends, but that was all that was there.

Bucky scoots into the booth, and you sit down beside him. Steve looks him up and down and then glances your way, "A date, Buck?"

Bucky shakes his head, "Nah, Stevie. I found her on the sidewalk down on 49th. Stumbling out of an alley."

"You okay, miss?" Steve asks you. "Is there something wrong?"

"It's nice to meet you," you say, trying to ignore the gravity of the situation. "I'm Y/N."

The two of them ordered dinner, and that's when you realize -- you don't have any money. Gentleman or no -- you couldn't expect either of these men to buy you something to eat. You just met them.

"Would you like something to eat, Y/N?" Bucky asks, looking at you.

"I don't have any money." Your words stumble out; that wasn't what you meant to tell them. "I'm fine, anyway. I don't need to eat."

"C'mon, now. I'll buy you something to eat. Don't worry about it," Bucky says.

In the end, you get a burger and you realize that this man, this Bucky, is the best friend that Steve sometimes talks about. His brother-in-arms, the man he grew up with, who followed him into battle back in World War II.

The sun is starting to set now, and you're still in 1940. You weren't sure if there was any way you would ever make it back to your own time.

"Miss, do you have anywhere to go for the night?" Steve asked quietly, as the three of you leave the diner.

You shake your head. "No. Thank you, Bucky, for finding me," you say, looking at the taller man, "but I can't expect your charity any longer. So thank you again."

"We live in an apartment about three blocks over," Bucky says, watching you. "We have a comfortable sofa you can sleep on for the night -- if you're okay with that, anyway."

You have nowhere to go, and you aren't one hundred percent sure why, but for some reason you trust him -- Bucky. You've known Steve for a while, but the Steve you know is a guy who lives in the future seventy years from now. He surely changed when he woke up and realized he was no longer in the '40s, and he was no longer at war.

"Okay," you say softly. "That would be really great. Thank you."

***

All in all, you stay in the '40s for a month, and the longer you stay with Bucky and Steve, the more you fall for Bucky. He's such a kind, gentle soul, but he's still a cocky charmer, but he makes you feel at ease. Honestly, he reminds you so much of Tony, which should've been weird, since Tony was your father, but it really wasn't.

Bucky and Steve have jobs. Of course they do. Steve works for a grocery store down on the corner, and Bucky's a dock worker. So you're alone when Tony comes to get you.

"Hey, kiddo," Tony says when you go down onto the street to see what the big noise was. It was a loud _boom_ , a noise that you didn't often hear in 1940's Brooklyn. You had gotten used to the ambient sounds of the city, and knew that once you were back in your own time, things were going to be so much different.

You leap forward and hug him. "Tony," you mumble into his chest as his arm wraps around your back. "I never thought I'd see you again."

You pull apart, and he smiles at you. "It took me a while to figure out where you went. But then I managed to talk to Thor. Loki's the one who transported me here."

"Loki?" you ask, almost incredulously. "The same Loki who was responsible for the Battle of New York?"

He chuckles, "Yeah, I was just as surprised. But Thor said something about how you didn't belong in this time, and I think Loki listened to him. He opened up a portal to get us home."

You look back at the apartment you're leaving behind, realizing that you're not able to tell your new friends goodbye, and take a deep breath. It's hurting your heart, but you nod and say, "Yeah. Let's go home."

The first couple of days you're home you avoid Steve. You're not sure you can explain to him what happened, and you're super-depressed at leaving them behind. You know you shouldn't be -- Steve is here, in the future, but Bucky...well, he was presumed dead in a fall he took a couple of years down the road from when you met him. In reality, you were mourning for a man you'd only known a month.

Finally, three days since you'd arrived back in 2018, you're in the common room, an open bottle of Jack in front of you, and Steve corners you.

"I remember you," he says softly. "I met you in 1940. In a diner. But you went out of your way not to tell me the truth. Me and Buck."

You nod. "Tony found some Asgardian tech, and it transported me to the '40s. Bucky found me." You avoid his gaze. "I know I left without telling you guys, but I wasn't one hundred percent certain how to tell you that I was from the future. Tony came to get me when you were at work, and I had to go. I'm sorry."

You take a swig of your whiskey as he looks at you.

"You're mourning," Steve says. "For Bucky."

"It's stupid, Steve," you say. "I knew the man for a month."

"You liked him," he states.

You nod. "But it doesn't matter. He's gone, and it's stupid. I shouldn't have even been there." You're half-drunk, and you know that, but you don't care.

You didn't drink a lot. Alcohol was the thing that took your parents from you -- your father was drunk when he ran off the road, your mother along with him. And then, you saw the struggle Tony had with alcohol. You never wanted it to be you that was fighting that battle, but as Natasha had told you once or twice, sometimes a drink eases the heart.

But your heart wasn't easing any. It seemed as though the more you drank, the heavier your heart got.

"You really shouldn't be drinking that, Y/N," Steve says. He watches you closely, and the disapproving frown is etched on his features.

"You're not my dad, Steve," you say. "And I am a grown adult."

"I'm sorry," he says to you. He leans down and takes the half-empty glass from your hand. This time, you let him as the tears fall down your cheeks. "Bucky and I wondered about what happened to you, but then he got drafted. I followed him into the war, but we always wondered what happened. You could've told us, you know."

You roll your eyes, "There's no way in hell that I could tell two regular guys back in 1940 that I was from the future because some alien tech stranded me there and they would believe me. That was pure science fiction back then. You guys would've thought I was completely insane."

"I'm not gonna sit here and let you blame yourself for whatever it is you are," Steve says firmly a moment later. He caps the bottle of Jack and then says, "There's something you need to know, Y/N. Bucky's alive."

"What?" you ask in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"He's alive. HYDRA has him. They took him when he fell from the train, back in 1944. He's a super-soldier, like me."

"So why aren't you storming the gates, trying to get him back? I thought he was your best friend."

"He is. But during the fall of SHIELD, he pulled me out of the Potomac and then disappeared. Nobody knew where he went. I've been scouring the Earth for him -- Sam's been helping me -- but he's smart. He doesn't want to be found."

"If HYDRA had him," you say slowly, "does he even remember who he is?"

"I don't know," Steve says softly. "But I promise you this much. I'm going to bring him home."

***

In the end, it only took about two months for Steve to bring Bucky into the Tower. Natasha had been busy looking up deprogramming specialists when he got there, but you were in the common room when he was brought in. You watched him.

He was the man you had fallen for. He was a little older, and the long hair and scruff on his face were new, and, of course, the bionic arm was something completely different, but he was still one of the most beautiful men you'd ever laid your eyes on. You stand and just watch him, and when his eyes meet yours, that's when you know.

He _knows_ you.

You go up to him. "Bucky?" you asked tentatively.

"Y/N?" he asks, breathless. "What happened to you?"

"Come and sit with me," you say, gesturing to the couch on the wall behind you. He does as you ask, and you notice Tony, Steve, and Natasha watching the two of you, on high alert.

"Tony was working on a piece of Asgardian tech," you start, but then realize you should start small. "Um, it's a piece of alien equipment. Asgardians are from another planet. One of their tech things got stranded on Earth, and Tony was messing with it. It catapulted me back to the 1940s. I was teleported to that alley you found me in."

"You did look a little distraught," he says, and it was then that you realize -- he didn't remember Steve, he didn't know his surroundings, but he remembered you from what would have been another lifetime to him. "I knew something was wrong right away."

You nod. "You were so nice to me, so kind. You didn't have to buy me dinner that first night, though," you say. "I would've been fine."

"He bought you dinner?" Tony asks, and it's at that moment that you realize that Tony is going to go all overprotective father on him. It wasn't something that Tony did all that often; Tony realized that you were a grown woman and could take care of yourself, but for some reason, whenever you brought a man home to meet him (which wasn't all that often, to be honest, because of things like this), he acted like an overprotective father.

"Don't worry about it, Stark," you answer, your eyes never leaving Bucky's. "Steve was there, too."

Tony just rolls his eyes.

"Was anything you told me true?" Bucky finally asks, his voice soft. He realizes that Natasha, Steve, and Tony are still standing around, watching the two of you interact. "I mean, were you really an orphan?"

You nod. "Yeah, I am. My parents died in a bad car accident when I was a child. Tony practically raised me."

"I bet that's a story to hear," Bucky says, and you see the telltale signs of a smirk on his lips. "I'd love to hear it at another time."

"I didn't want to leave like I did," you go on. "Tony came to get me and Loki could only hold the portal open for so long. You and Steve were at work. I thought about leaving you a note, but what the fuck could I have even said to you?"

"You let _Loki_ transport the two of you back? What the hell were you thinking?" Steve whispers to Tony harshly. Tony just shrugs.

"I always wondered what happened to you," Bucky says softly. "Look, Y/N, I'm gonna level with you. I don't remember much -- sometimes, I don't even remember who I am. But I know you. Something about you -- I know who you are. But I'm broken."

"The beauty of something that's broken, Buck, is that you can fix it. And yeah, you may never be the person you were, but you can glue yourself back together and begin again." You take a deep breath before looking into his storm cloud blue eyes and say, "Do you want to start over? Get to know each other?"

He nods and smiles, "I think I'd like that."


End file.
